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Monday, March 13, 2017

Is a Guy with a Big Beard Sexy?

Congratulations to "Anita H.", the winner in Miranda's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!

Let’s face it, beard styles have “grown” a little crazy in
the last few years. Suddenly popular are those super fluffy beards called the
Bandholz style, named after a guy who got negative comments at his job in the corporate
world by wanting to grow his beard to its limit. He left corporate life and
founded a highly successful company of beard-care products…and helped spread a
trend!

Other styles of facial hair are popular too—Robert Downey,
Jr. wears the Balbo style, Hugh Jackman (in his X-men role) mutton chops. And
then there are also short stubble and goatees.

When my hero and heroine first meet in my new release, CAN’T
FIGHT THIS FEELING, the hero has a very bushy beard that the heroine does not care for at all. (She uses the terms
“Wolverine” and “Unabomber” to poke fun at him.) In fact, she doesn’t care for him at all—she feels he’s entitled and over
privileged. He’s the son of a billionaire, hiding out from the media after he
left his high-society bride at the altar, and he’s ducked into a church to
escape the press. He’s been keeping a low profile in the small town of Mirror
Lake, and letting his beard get pretty long and bushy.

My heroine has just gone AWOL from her bereavement group
that’s meeting in the church basement. She’s desperate to start her life again
after her husband’s death from cancer, but she’s terrified and unsure of how to
begin—she only knows that she’s got to try.

My hero just happens to overhear my heroine’s conversation
as she makes a call to a guy she’s had a few dates with. She’s trying to ask
him out again and completely fumbling the call—so she starts coaching her!

You can read the excerpt below. (You’re also welcome to read
the whole first chapter on my website at mirandaliasson.com.)

Comment below about how YOU feel about big bushy beards for
a chance to win a $5 Amazon card and an e-copy of the first Spikonos Brothers
book, CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU. (This book is the second in the series, but the
books can be read as stand-alones as well. For the month of March, the kindle
edition of the first Spikonos Brothers book, CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU, is on sale
for just $1.99 on Amazon.)

EXCERPT:

“I want to sleep
with you,” Maggie McShae said into her cell phone. “I’m ready to take the plunge.”
Her words echoed in the high-ceilinged vestibule of Mirror Lake Congregational
Church, where her bereavement group was meeting at this very moment in the
basement.

The bereavement
group, that is, from which she’d gone AWOL, possibly forever. It was not the
group she led as part of her practice as a psychologist either, but the one
she’d attended since her husband’s death over three years ago.

“Did I just hear
you right?” Greg Pollard, a fireman on the Mirror Lake squad, asked from the
other end of the phone.

“Yes, you heard me
right. I’m ready. It’s time.” There, she’d done it. Finally taken a step
forward. Greg was a nice guy, and they’d had three fun dates. He was good-looking
and polite, and she wanted him to know she was ready to move to the next level.
Being a psychologist, even she could congratulate herself on the progress.

What would Corey
think? She could see him sitting in heaven, in his favorite easy chair,
laughing his ass off at her awkwardness. Or maybe he’d be scowling instead. He’d
been gone three and a half years, but going on a date still felt like she was
cheating on him. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out those thoughts. She
was doing so well. Keep going, Maggie,
she thought, trying to cheer herself on inside her head.

“Um, Maggie, I’m
at work. Can you give me a sec?”

“Oh, sure. No
problem, Greg.”

The sound of male
laughter echoed around her in the high-ceilinged space, bouncing off the big
glass windows that faced Main Street of Mirror Lake, Connecticut. As Maggie
slowly turned around, she saw someone sitting on one of the three wide white
marble steps that ran the length of the vestibule.

Oh, firetruck. It was her best friend Bella’s
obnoxious brother-in-law, and he’d just heard everything. Well, she wasn’t
going to let him sit there and gloat. “Oh hi, Ted Kaczynski,” she said, waving.
“What made you join civilization today?”

The man smoothed
out his rather bushy beard and smiled. Even under all that hair (which he’d
seemed to grow to hide behind in the past year and a half since coming to
Mirror Lake), that smile was beaming out some major wattage. She’d never
personally seen him without the Wolverine look, but she’d seen photos in the
tabloids, and honestly, she was grateful for the massive sprouting of hair that
hid his make-women-swoon sexy looks. Not that they’d ever make her swoon, mind you. She was immune to
scoundrels.

Above the beard,
his eyes crinkled, showing a few lines that in a man like him spelled interest
and experience. He smiled, displaying brilliantly white teeth, reminding her he
wasn’t a country hick hiding out in Mirror Lake but rather a polished
gazillionaire businessman. But the hiding part was right.

Actually, they’d
met when he’d run in off the street straight into the group therapy session she
was leading, looking for sanctuary from the press after his botched wedding.
She was afraid he was deranged and called the cops. She smiled a little
thinking of that day when a gorgeous AWOL guy in a tux burst through her office
door. She’d gotten to know him a little since he was the brother of two of her
best friends’ husbands, but she didn’t have a very high opinion of him. In the
looks department, he was blessed, but the rest of him left a lot to be desired.

“Don’t mind me,”
he said. “Just keep on with your…um…booty call.”

She covered the
receiver of her cell and dropped her voice. Because they were in a church,
after all. “It’s not a booty call. We’ve had three perfectly wonderful dates,
and he wanted to…he wanted to… Why am I telling you this? It’s none of your
business.”

He held up a hand.
“Right. Sure you don’t need a few pointers?”

From him? The guy
who created a national scandal when he dumped his gorgeous socialite bride at
the altar—at the altar, for God’s
sake—a year and a half ago in front of a sizable crowd at St. Patrick’s
Cathedral? Which had been covered by all the major outlets, starting a media
firestorm that he’d been lying low from ever since. “Like I’m going to ask you
for pointers in matters of the heart. That’s a laugh, because you clearly don’t
have one.”

He placed his
hands dramatically over his chest. “You slay me, Maggie. You just slay me.” He
waited for her eye roll before he said, “This doesn’t really sound like a
matter of the heart. More like a matter of…”

“Oh, hi, Greg,”
she said, because he was back on the line. “Yes. I was just wondering if you’d
like to try…another date.”

Put him on speaker, Drew mouthed.

No way, she mouthed back as she turned away a
little. She didn’t like Andreas Poulos. He’d had the reputation of being a
love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy even before his high-profile engagement,
dating beautiful women from around the world. Then, of course, he’d left poor
Anika in tears. He was clearly full of himself, rich and entitled, and he would
rather act like a recluse than face his problems. All dishonorable traits in
her book. Even the New York Post ran
the headline: THE HUNK’S A PUNK, after the wedding debacle.

But there was one thing he had that just
might come in helpful. Tons of experience with women. Why not use it to her
benefit? He’d already heard what was going on. Plus, she hadn’t had sex in over
three years. These were desperate times, and clearly, she could use a little
help here. Despite her better judgment, she pushed the speaker button.

CAN’T FIGHT
THIS FEELING

SHE WANTS TO MOVE ON…WITH SOMEONE BLAND AND BORING.

Widowed psychologist Maggie McShae is ready to find someone who
won’t make her heart beat fast, her knees grow weak, or her body go hot and
cold at the same time. No one she can really love, because love brings too much
pain.

Drew Poulos, son of a billionaire, is hiding out in Mirror Lake,
working at his brothers’ brandy company. He inspires those very feelings
Maggie’s determined to avoid. The hunky businessman, who left his high society
bride at the altar, is the last person she’d ever seriously date. But he might
just be perfect for a fling…

HE NEEDS A DATE FOR HIS BROTHER’S WEDDING…WITH SOMEONE WHO CAN
CALM HIS QUIRKY FAMILY.

Drew’s too heartbroken to ever trust any woman again, but the
sexy psychologist is the perfect person to deflect his family’s attention as
his brother marries the woman Drew once thought was his.

As
sparks fly, two injured hearts might just find that true love can be even
better the second time around.

GIVEAWAY:One lucky reader leaving a comment or email entry will win a$5 Amazon card and an e-copy of CAN’T FIGHT THIS FEELING (winner may choose a signed print copy instead if in the U.S.)

AUTHOR BIO AND LINKS:

Miranda Liasson loves to write stories about everyday people
who find love despite themselves, because there’s nothing like a great love
story. And if there are a few laughs along the way, even better! A former
Golden Heart winner, she’s written contemporary romance for Montlake,
Entangled, and soon for Grand Central. She lives in the
Midwest with her husband, three
kids, and Posey, a rescue cat with attitude.

Giveaway ends 11:59pm EST March 14th. Please supply your email in the post. You may use spaces or full text for security. (ex. jsmith at gmail dot com) If you do not wish to supply your email, or have trouble posting, please email maureen@JustContemporaryRomance.com with a subject title of JCR GIVEAWAY to be entered in the current giveaway.

I'm okay with lighter coloured beards that are barely there. We have a friend with a long grey beard - and we call him Santa all the time. It's either that or saying he looks homeless; we think Santa is kinder to him.... Yeah, a five-o'clock shadow type of beard can be sexy to me, but not if it's black. My husband's was black and he looked downright sinister. His brother's is reddish and I think it looks fine if it's trimmed often. Besides, it hides his triple chins, LOL.

Hi Laney, thanks for the laughs! My husband wears a beard sometimes (close shaved and I really like it) but when he's shaving it sometimes he shaves the sides so he has that mustache-and-goatee look that I think makes him look like I wouldn't want to meet up with him on a dark street, LOL. Thanks for sharing:)

Wow, seriously? I love it! I don't know if this is still true, but a few years ago I heard that you won't see many bearded heroes on book covers because women don't prefer that...but maybe that's changed now that beards are more popular? My second Mirror Lake book has a bearded hero on the cover but they would only give him a light beard for that reason!

I'm a NBB gal ( no bushy beards) lol �� One dad of stubble you might get away with me but then you better get that Gillette out lol ��I just wish my sons weren't into this trend !They are So trying to look older ! Lol �� Oh there will come a time and they'll try to reverse it I'm sure !! and shave lol �� Have a fab day x

Violet, my son came home for his college spring break last year looking like a mountain man. I was very careful to bite my tongue and say nothing (well, I suppose I did compliment him on his ability to grow hair, LOL) but I was so ecstatic when that thing got trimmed! Thanks for stopping!

(NOT entering) This book is so fabulous! The winner is going to love this one. I am with Maggie on this one because I am not really a fan of beards, especially bushy ones. Although the Unibomber jokes cracked me up, I was SO happy when Drew shaved!

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